GE's entry into the market of the
1960's was the Transistorized Progress Line, or TPL equipment, although
production of the Progress Line continued simultaneously for a few years. All manufacturers
were in a race to produce equipment which was as transistorized as possible, and
at that time this meant using germanium transistors. Because of this
race, some less-than-optimum implementations or processes were sometimes rushed into production. GE's TPL
consisted of a fully transistorized receiver and a partially transistorized
transmitter, in a modular housing which could be taken apart and
mounted throughout a vehicle in separate pieces. The TPL was initially supplied as a rather
large under-dash
package consisting of a front section containing the receiver and part of the transmitter
exciter, a center section containing the balance of the transmitter exciter and
a power amplifier, and a rear
section containing the power supply for the transmitter, as shown in the first
photo below. A complicated
engine-compartment mounted fuse-block relay unit switched power to the power
supply section and muted the receiver, something done internally in Motorola and
competitive equipment.

TPL shipments began in approximately late
1959. For some reason, most TPL's seem to have been made in 1961-62, at
least in my observation of used equipment.
The TPL was officially first announced at the Forestry Conservation
Communications Association meeting in Hot Springs, Arkansas in July, 1959.

There was an optional cable and bracket kit
which allowed the dash mounted receiver to be separated from the rest of the
unit in an ugly, impractical and unreliable arrangement which then
resulted in the creation of a trunk mounted mobile with an oversized
control head. This led to the somewhat incorrect perception in the
industry that the TPL had "the receiver contained in the control
head." A third arrangement which seems to have been developed
a year or two after introduction, finally placed all sections of the TPL into a
trunk mounted package and supplied a conventional, quite small control head with just
volume and squelch controls inside it. In all versions, the open ventilation
of the transmitter exciter and power amplifier section subjected them to dirt
and moisture intrusion to a greater extent than enclosed radios. As a
matter of trivia, there were some issues with poor contact to the pins of the
Cinch-Jones style main control connector on the front of the trunk-mounted style
TPL, resulting in a re-designed cable connector retainer clip assembly and
probably resulting in the replacement "MASTR Professional" series
using a round-pin connector of proprietary GE design.

TPL equipment was only made in VHF low and high band
models. There was no UHF TPL. The UHF counterpart to the TPL was the
Accent 450, although the Accent was introduced in the early 1960's. TPL offered many unusual options, such as dual front ends and
noise blankers, most of which were added underneath the equipment in ugly
accessory housings, connected by unique and proprietary connectors. The
high band TPL was introduced first, in 1959, while the low band versions were
introduced in June, 1960.

The speaker in the TPL series
contains the radio's sole audio amplifier as well. This was a theme of the
early 1960's also used other manufacturers such as RCA in its first hybrid equipment (Super Carfone
series.) There were two speakers available, a
2 Watt and a 10 watt model. The 10 Watt speaker was supplied with a coiled
cord and the unique feature of a lip on the rear edge to allow it to be removed
from its bracket and placed on a vehicle window so that it could be heard by
workers away from the vehicle. This feature was generally not seen again
on later GE equipment although Motorola thought enough of it to copy the lip on
the housing of their Micor line of speakers in 1970.

The TPL used a number of proprietary
items such as the connectors for the microphone, relay assembly and speaker,
which were never seen again on any other GE equipment. There were two
styles of microphone connector for the Shure made microphone - - a
disposable rubber-style one molded with the cord, and a re-usable metal bodied
version. The housings were
made from a surprising number of elaborate die castings, in shapes quite unusual
compared to other equipment in the industry.

Also surprising
was the use of sockets for the transistors, something not seen on competitive
equipment, and one of the downfalls of the TPL. In rough service, it was
reported that it was not unusual for technicians to pull a defective unit for
repair only to find several of the transistors rolling about loose in the bottom
of the receiver housing! Apparently the reliability of the transistor was
not anticipated, and the designers chose to treat them like vacuum tubes, making
them plug into sockets, but without any retaining hardware.

The high band receiver in the TPL
was produced in two models. The original receiver used a coil and
capacitor L-C tuned circuit "front end," while the last-generation TPL used a
helical resonator front end. The exciters also went
through two models. The early exciters contained a sealed delay-line
modulator module, while the later ones were improved with a more
conventional design. Either TPL transmitter modulator has excellent
audio. A 10 Watt TPL mobile could be made into an 80 Watt model by
plugging an 80 Watt power supply and transmitter module onto the
receiver/control/exciter section.

The TPL was plagued with numerous
problems which have generally relegated it to the category of one of the largest
design failures in
the history of two way radio, although some of this criticism was in retrospect
unfair. The plug-in transistors fell out of their
sockets, as mentioned, and in my experience the solder joints of the stiff wires connecting the two opposing
circuit boards in the receiver section could develop cracks. The early
models were somewhat sensitive to vehicle battery voltage variations causing the squelch
threshold to vary. The complicated cabling was an installation nuisance of
major proportions.

On the other hand, the TPL had a number of unique performance
advantages. When squelched in stand-by, it drew less current than a
single pilot lamp, about 50 ma., allowing it to be left on at least overnight in a vehicle, if
not permanently, depending upon the level of radio traffic and the setting of
the volume control. Even today's equipment can not make that claim. Unlike the
standard Progress Line, the TPL control head featured a stand-by switch which switched off the transmitter's tube
filaments to save current, as well as the green "on" pilot lamp.

Ray Minichiello, who retired as GE's
Manager of Product Planning, Communications Products Department, was with the
company at the time the TPL was in production, and shares the rare inside story
that the TPL's initial problems were not the fault of its electrical
design. It seems that the transistors used in the TPL were primarily
supplied by GE's Transistor Department in Syracuse, New York. In Ray's own
words:

When high rates of transistor failures in
the field were reported to the Transistor Department, it was but a puzzle as
other customers of the same type transistors enjoyed 100% reliability. The
relationship between the two departments soured to include threats of switching
to Motorola products! The Syracuse gang requested a hands-on following of
each operation on receipt of the transistors, inspection and preparing,
including the process of installation in the board...

The Syracuse engineers discovered that after receipt of the transistors at
Lynchburg Receiving Section, the transistors were inserted in a device to cut
the leads to the proper length. However, it was discovered that the device
pulled the leads during the cut, only to fracture the internal junction!
When the transistors were inserted in the finished product, it was only a matter
of time that the junction dislodged, resulting in failure of the TPL. The
Methods man quickly modified the design of the lead cutting tool and thereafter
TPL's enjoyed a high reliability reputation. However, it was regretfully
long after the first shipments of the TPL to the field and the product was
already subject to a bad "rap."

Accessory decks were added to the
TPL between the receiver section and the exciter, such as the Channel Guard
board. Yet additional decks were added underneath, such as the noise
blanker and the dual front end sections, making a rather bulky package.
Note that the front (receiver) section is connected to the rest of the chassis
solely by two coaxial cables with RCA connectors, the DC voltage being
superimposed onto the cabling.

The majority of TPL's seem to have
been made in VHF high band models, and they were purchased in large numbers by
the US Government and the Bell System. TPL production ended in
approximately 1965,
representing one of GE's shortest-lived mobile radios. If nothing else, it
was certainly an unusual and attractive set in the dash mount configuration.

At a sales meeting in 1962, GE
announced the "Ruggedized TPL." I have no idea what this
consisted of, other than possibly the new helical resonator receiver front end
deck and a re-designed rear-mount connector fastening system.

Shown below is a rear mount
version of the TPL, in a 35 Watt configuration:

Unusual 4 Frequency TPL rear mount
control head:

SIREN AND PA EQUIPMENT

During the development of the TPL
line, a transistorized mobile PA amplifier was developed. This too used
socketed small signal transistors, while the main amplifier DS501 style
transistors were hard wired into the circuit. These amplifiers were
initially available as the model series 4EA5, which was apparently intended
mainly as an accessory to the Progress Line and is specified as a 20 Watt unit. Later models were the 4EA12,
as shown here, which seems identical to the 4EA5 other than having a TPL series
microphone socket as an option and shows a 25 Watt output. 25 Watts was not very much power for a
siren, and it seems as if few of these were sold. I recently acquired the
example below, which is the first one I have seen in 50 years of
collecting. The original model 4EA5 was originally only a PA amplifier, the faceplate
did not have the center switch. There was a field modification kit for
adding the siren feature, which among other things involved replacing the
faceplate and adding an additional circuit board. The 4EA12A10 was the
PA-only model while the 4EA12B10 was the model shown below, with the the siren.

Pacer and Accent 450 are grouped
together as they were both economy radios built for a short period of time. The
desktop base station versions of them appear similar.

PACER (1961-1965)

Pacer was a VHF economy all-tube
under-dash radio which used printed circuit boards with tube sockets mounted on
them, introduced in January, 1961. It was an approximately 15 Watt unit finished in Progress Line blue
paint, with TPL style red plastic knobs. They were purchased primarily by
towing companies, taxi operators and small businesses which typically had
just one or two mobiles,
such as plumbing and electrical contractors. Although not that bad a
design, the Pacer gained the reputation as an unreliable and poor performing
radio, primarily because of the issue of hot tubes cracking the traces of the
printed circuit boards. Nonetheless, many saw long years of service.
There was no "standby" feature on the Pacer and the transistor power
supply drew current at all times during operation, as well as being acoustically
noisy, as was the crystal oven thermostat which made a "plink-plonk"
sound at regular intervals. This was probably not an issue in a vehicle such as a tow truck,
where the engine would be running at all times and rather noisy itself.
There were no UHF Pacers, the equipment was made in low and high bands only, as
well as in an attractive tabletop base station of totally different
appearance. Few Pacers have survived.

Photo courtesy Ben Kittredge WA1PBR

Accent 450 (1961-1964)

The Accent 450 was a strange and unique UHF radio using
tubes mounted on printed circuit boards as on the Pacer, with thick anodized
aluminum heat sink-shields for the transmitting tubes attached to the sidewalls of the
case. It was all vacuum tube type other than the transistors in the power
supply. The receiver front end
made use of a 1N21 UHF cartridge mixer diode. Sensitivity was relatively
poor, but comparable to competitive equipment. The Pacer transmitter made use of a new,
expensive and rather unreliable (in my opinion) Amperex glass
UHF tube, type 7377. These tubes were short lived in actual use and it was
unusual to find an Accent 450 in service which would produce more than a few
Watts, if that. The odd control head of the Accent contained the speaker and could be mounted
either on the front of the radio itself or remotely, using an extension
cable. Not many Accents were made and they seem to be regarded as an even worse
failure than the TPL. The Accent 450 had no provision for a
locking tray or case, and the lid was a flimsy steel plate. The
Accent 450, as its name suggests, was made only in a UHF version. Few Accent 450's have survived.
Local examples have been refugees from the Port of Oakland, California.

Shown below is an example of an
Accent 450 configured for front-mount operation, in the museum room at the
Harris (GE) facility in Lynchburg. Photo courtesy Mark Cobbeldick

VOICE COMMANDERS I, II and III (1961-65)

The Voice Commander was GE's first
hand-held VHF FM two way radio, introduced in July, 1961 and replaced the Progress Line pack set (which in
late versions contained sections identical to the TPL mobile receiver.) The Voice Commanders
II and III were fully solid state with Germanium transistors, while the Voice Commander I used
subminiature wire-lead tubes for the transmitter power amplifier. The
fully solid state Voice Commander, the II series, was in production by
September, 1962. Coming from the same design-era as the TPL, Accent 450 and Pacer, the Voice
Commanders were also considered failures for many reasons. The Voice
Commander was a strange all plastic blend of the properties of a pack set mated
to that of a hand-held radio with perhaps the worst features of both!
Introduced in July, 1961.

The push-to-talk button on the Voice
Commander is in the front center of the unit, requiring both hands to hold the
radio up and talk into it. There was also a remote microphone which
plugged into a peculiar proprietary 3-pin connector on the left side of the carrying
handle, on the III Series. The II and I series did not offer this
option. The
telescopic antenna could easily contact the grounded carrying handle, blowing
the output transistors in the transmitter if the radio were on the air at the
time. The large battery pack of the solid state Voice Commanders contained
many sub-C nickel cadmium cells in a series-parallel arrangement. Although
provided with a two channel switch, nearly all Voice Commanders were single
channel, and most seem to have been wide band. The Voice Commander receiver
was assembled from several modules encased in brass sheeting, while the
transmitter was a single circuit board. Power output was roughly one
watt.

The battery box was available as a
rechargeable nickel-cadmium style (II and III) or a dry battery version, as
shown below (I, II and III.)

The receiver of the Voice Commander
was somewhat subject to overload and assorted severe cross-modulation and intermodulation-distortion
issues in high signal strength areas.

There were no UHF Voice Commanders,
and it is believed that few low band versions were built. The Voice
Commander was built from approximately 1960-65. Considering that
Motorola's successful HT-200 "Handie-Talkie" was introduced in 1963,
it is easy to see why the Voice Commander was utterly non-competitive, although
it was available as a transistorized portable before the Motorola HT-200 was
available.

In hindsight it is easy to think
that had GE assembled the Voice Commander into a small "lunchbox"
style pack-set case similar to the Motorola PT300 sets, with a conventional
separate microphone and standard antenna, it probably would have been very
popular.

It is hard not to think that the
years 1961-63 must have been bleak ones for GE, in that virtually all of their new product
lines during this period, in my opinion, were rather peculiar looking if
not ugly, and often unreliable.

Voice Commander III:

POCKET MATE (1965-1969)

The Pocket Mate was GE's first
actual hand-held radio and designed to compete with Motorola's HT-200 which had
been introduced in early 1963. The Pocket Mate is believed to have been
introduced about 1965 and is much smaller than competitor Motorola HT-200. The Pocket Mate is almost as bizarre in appearance
as the Voice Commander or the Accent 450 radios. A peculiar captive telescopic
whip antenna was permanently attached, and flipped upwards on the side of the
radio to a vertical orientation. The round speaker in the front center
also acted as the microphone, a design flop repeated by many designers over and
over again throughout the 1960's and into the early 1970's, including the
Motorola HT220. A round
push-to-talk button near the top on one side completed the strange appearance of
this ugly two-tone radio. The
Pocket Mate was made only in VHF versions and is rare. They were also made
under Bell & Howell and Kel-Com brand names in a dark, solid gray color
style. The Pocket Mate was the
radio found in the possession of the Watergate burglars during the famous Nixon
era Watergate debacle. Some were apparently also used by the Secret
Service and various covert agencies, which in retrospect leads me to pity them a
bit for having to use what I think is a silly looking radio. For reasons unknown, the
Pocket Mate and its relabeled versions are very rare today.

PORTA MOBIL
(1964-1974)

GE introduced the Porta Mobil in
high and low band models in April, 1964, at which time it contained the
industry's first fully solid state 10 Watt transmitter.

The Porta Mobil was a solid state pack set
intended to replace the Progress Line series portable, rather than the Voice
Commander, in that unlike the Voice Commanders, it is larger and has a metal
housing. The top handle is a spring-loaded affair which pulls up when
grasped, then retracts when released. I am thinking that perhaps there was a major design department
employee change at GE about 1964, when the "silly" looking radios stopped
being made.

The Porta Mobil is fully solid state with a power supply which
is an up - converting DC-DC converter, bringing the battery or input voltage to 36
Volts for the transmitter power amplifier stage. The Porta Mobil is
actually heavier than the Progress Line portable, but runs a nominal 18-20 Watts
on low band and 12 Watts on UHF and high band. The speaker audio output is
quite high compared to previous pack sets. The Porta Mobil, being a MASTR
series radio, has a centralized metering jack. It uses all silicon
transistors. This set was available in either battery powered portable
configuration, DC only power supply operation for mobile use, or an AC power
supply for base station operation.

There was a steel mobile mounting tray
to allow mounting of the radio in a vehicle, and a remote mount industrial
version was also available, after May, 1965, usually used as a motorcycle radio within an
appropriate rear-fender weather housing. The standard model featured a
microphone, but a handset version was available. Two frequencies were as
many as normally available, although a four channel model was made. The Porta Mobil was available in low, high and UHF bands and
was purchased in large numbers by forestry and fire departments, logging and
industrial buyers. The motorcycle version is rare today, as apparently few
were made. The Porta Mobil has no quirks and is generally regarded
as a high quality, reliable radio, other than needing a higher than expected
amount of battery power on transmit. The knobs are frequently found broken
or missing, and they are one area where a bit better quality could have been
applied. A "Porta Mobil II" was introduced in approx. 1973 to
replace the original Port Mobil.

MASTR Series (1964-1973)

MASTR Professional

TheMASTR
Professional Series began production in late summer 1964 and totally replaced
the TPL, Accent and Pacer series as well as the remaining Progress Line
models. The MASTR Professional series was quickly
added to by an economy version bearing no similarity, called the MASTR Executive
Line. By the late 1960's there was also the Custom Executive, a dash mount
radio, and
several other MASTR sub-models.

MASTR Professional became to the
1960's what the Progress Line had been to the 1950's, and probably saved GE's
mobile radio business from disaster. The "MASTR Pro" is
generally regarded as one of the finest mobile radios made by any manufacturer during the
period. Unlike the TPL, the MASTR Pro series returned to the philosophy of
the Progress Line in terms of separate power supplies, receivers and
transmitters made in long chassis "strips." Unlike the Progress
Line, the MASTR Pro strips were tied together at the ends with a cast front
plate and a rear mounting plate, with individual covers (top and bottom) on each
strip with a gap between the strips. This is as opposed to the single
large "drawer" housing as used on the Progress Line or the
screwed-together modules of the TPL. As viewed from the front, the
MASTR Professional series chassis are, from left to right, receiver, power
supply, and transmitter. Accessory chassis were usually placed across the
rear apron.

The MASTR Pro equipment was
available for all conventional bands as well as export and special service
bands, in many different power levels. The UHF Mastr 60 Watt series was
not ready for production until January, 1965. There were many
"specials" with assorted options such as more than four channels,
multiple channel guard operation, dual receivers, dual receiver front ends,
scan, etc.. One of the more famous "specials" is the Illinois
State Police Radio Network, or "ISPERN" radio, recognizable by its red
microphone and multiple pilot lamps on the control head representing the channel
in use.

The initial MASTR Pro series
featured a solid state receiver with 2 Watts of audio, and a hybrid transmitter
containing a solid state exciter and miniature and Compactron tubes in the power
amplifier section. Up to four frequencies were available on the standard
boards, and multiple channel models were available on special order for more
than four channels. Later receivers were brought up to five watts of audio
power output, and the last series used TCXO oscillator modules on VHF and
UHF. Like the Progress Line, the "strips" from the MASTR Pro
series could also be used in base stations, of which there were several
configurations. MASTR Pro mobiles could have the control head mounted
directly to the front of the rather large radio assembly, or used under the
vehicle dash as was most commonly done. The early control heads were made
of die cast metal while the last series were
gray molded plastic. All of the MASTR microphones were Shure plastic
housing types made for GE with a unique housing design.

By the late 1960's GE offered fully solid
state versions called the MASTR Imperial and MASTR Royal Professional, to
compete with Motorola's Motran series. These
last-generation MASTR Professional radios typically used TCXO modules for
frequency stability, called ICOMs in GE parlance, and were rather cutting-edge
in design. They were and are uncommon.

GE's advertising often showed the
MASTR Professional as a front mount configuration, although the arrangement was
so massive (much larger than the TPL) that few were ever configured that way.

There were two styles of speaker;
one is as shown below with an all plastic front housing, and an earlier design with a
perforated aluminum screen and a cast metal front housing. It is presumed
that the change to a plastic speaker housing occurred at the same time that the
control heads changed to plastic housings. There were also many custom
control head faces made for special customers; the typical generic control head
is the only one shown here. A "scan" head was also manufactured,
which contained a four channel scanner in a deep housing.

All of the MASTR Professional heads
contain a "standby" position on the power switch, which de-energizes
the transmitter filaments to save vehicle battery power when there is no need
for instant transmission capability, allowing the vehicle engine to be shut off
for extended periods of monitoring.

The Mastr Professional series, based
on serial number tags, seems to have still been in production through 1973
although the Mastr II was also being sold by 1970.

MASTR Executive (1965-1973)

The MASTR Executive was a cheaper
alternative to the Professional series but enjoyed an equal reputation for
reliability and durability. It was introduced in December, 1965 for VHF
high and low bands, with a UHF version following approximately two years
later. The receiver chassis of the Executive is a
metallized plastic, and the transmitter is a hybrid design similar to the
Professional series, using Compactron style tubes and conduction heat-sinking. The Executive radio is in a unitized package about 1/3 the
size of the Professional, but was available with fewer options. The
Executive was available with a small control head mounted to the front of the mobile
drawer, where the control cable connector would normally be, or a separate dash mounted control head. Executives were very
popular with RCC organizations and budget-minded customers. As with the
Professional series, the last generations of the Executive had fully solid state
transmitters and TCXO modules, and were referred to as the Royal
Executive. The Executive series was available in all bands and several
power levels. The Executive control heads were a cheaper design than the
Professional, and featured no squelch control, instead having only a
"Monitor" white pushbutton.

The Executive was a reliable,
relatively trouble-free radio, despite its somewhat "cheap"
construction.

Unlike the MASTR Professional, which
requires a heavy mounting "tray," the bottom half of the Executive
mobile housing has holes and a raised boss to allow it to be used as the
mounting platform.

Both the Professional and Executive
series would be replaced in the 1970's by the MASTR II and Executive II series
radios, respectively, of substantially different design, with remaining stocks
of both product being sold through approximately the end of 1973.

Below is a typical example of
the Executive mobile drawer, from 1967.

Executive series accessory
group. Note that the microphone hang-up clip was not normally located on
the control head; this was a customer-performed modification.